Isner to meet Almagro in Clay Courts final

Updated 10:07 pm, Saturday, April 13, 2013

John Isner is all smiles after beating Juan Monaco and advancing to today's final against Nicolas Almagro.

John Isner is all smiles after beating Juan Monaco and advancing to today's final against Nicolas Almagro.

Photo: Thomas B. Shea

Isner to meet Almagro in Clay Courts final

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John Isner figured out Juan Monaco on Saturday, something he couldn't do last year in dropping a three-setter on the final Sunday.

The problem this spring is that beating Monaco isn't yet enough. It still leaves Isner a victory shy of a first U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship title, and there aren't many tougher opponents on clay than Nicolas Almagro, his opponent on Sunday.

Surviving a slow start - Isner was broken twice in the first set when 56 percent of his first serves were faults - he defeated the defending champion from Argentina 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 and became the tournament's first repeat finalist since Andy Roddick played in five in a row from 2001 through 2005.

"After the first set, I thought I served smart and got myself out of a few jams," Isner said. "I could have been a little more aggressive after I got up a break in the third, but I've got nothing to complain about. I played well."

He knows he will have to play even better in the final. Almagro, in his Houston debut, will be attempting to become the first top seed to claim the title since Roddick won his third in 2005. With a 59-minute 6-2, 6-1 paddling of Rhyne Williams, Almagro is through to his 19th ATP World Tour final, and all of them have been on clay. He has won 12 times, most recently in Nice before the French Open last May.

"I played better than the first two (matches)," Almagro said. "I was feeling good, and I think he was a little tired. I'm very happy with my game. I try to be focused. I move really good on court today. That is really important for me. I finally played my tennis."

Isner's victory means an American will go for the title for a sixth consecutive year at River Oaks, which first hosted the event in 2008. However, only Ryan Sweeting in 2011 has won, and the 27-year-old from Greensboro, N.C., enters today's match as the clear underdog against Almagro, who arguably is the most accomplished clay-court player in a Houston field going back to 2003 champion Andre Agassi.

Almagro, also 27, has won both matches they have played, a four-setter with three tiebreakers in the first round at Wimbledon in 2011, then an epic battle in the Davis Cup quarterfinals on Spanish clay in 2012 that came to a 7-5 fifth-set conclusion.

Isner came out with guns blazing in the final game on Saturday, launching three serves in excess of 140 mph, but he also made a couple of terrible errors to prolong the moment before closing Monaco out with a sharply angled backhand volley.

"He turned it around," Monaco said. "He played better than me in the end today, that's for sure."

Williams was experiencing his first ATP World Tour-level semifinal after winning his first three clay-court matches in tennis' big leagues, but he was barely a speed bump for Almagro, who has been ranked as high as No. 9 in the world while leading the circuit in clay-court victories three of the past five seasons.

The 22-year-old from Knoxville, Tenn., can't feel too badly about the week's results, however. He will make a quantum leap toward the top 100 (probably landing around 113), which is light years improved from his ranking of 370 a year ago.

"I was disappointed in (not being able to) move the way I wanted to today, and that just goes to show I've got a lot of work to do (in) fitness, strength and endurance," said Williams, who admitted he was "quite sore" after his full week's work on the court.

The 6-0, 180-pound Almagro has a deceptively imposing serve, both powerful and accurate enough for him to be leading the ATP in aces. He drilled seven more at Williams' expense, one of them registering 137 mph on the radar gun.

"It's such a quick, rapid-fire motion you don't have time to anticipate," Williams said. "With other guys, you can sort of tell with the toss where the ball's going. And he's not a huge guy, but his serve is massive. It doesn't look like he's going to crush it, but he does. And he's got so much to back (his serve) up, the weight on his shots, the heaviness, the depth, the angles. He's just strong … He's a grown man."

Steep learning curve

What ultimately destroyed any chance Williams might have had was his inability to protect his own serve. He held only twice, and the second of those came in the penultimate game when the outcome was inevitable.

Williams won points on just 41 percent of his first-serve points and suffered five breaks while managing to counter but once, when he was already down 5-1 in the first set.

Later, however, Williams was able to put the lopsided result in perspective, insisting that indeed it was "fun getting to see what it feels like facing a top guy like that. It was definitely a fantastic experience for me this week. I really enjoyed it even though the result didn't go my way today."